Moss×

“In dreams I hear him calling out from the restless slumber in these mindless towers..” – ‘The Coral of Chaos’

First gathered together in Southampton in the year 2000 – with the formative ambition of being slower and heavier than the slowest, heaviest band you can think of – MOSS is known for unleashing true audial darkness and claustrophobia upon their listeners. The crypt-crushing, drug-crazed occult horror sound of 2005’s Cthonic Rites, 2008’s Sub Templum, 2009’s Tombs Of The Blind Drugged 10″ and the Eternal Return 12″ gradually refined and redefined their suffocating underground doom with impenetrable esoteric themes, and gained them a fearsome reputation as one of the worlds foremost purveyors of what is unequivocally heavy. After 13 years, where does such a band go from there? How can they push the envelope any further than it has already been pushed? Enter 2013’s Horrible Night…

“we wanted to write something that would stand up over time…no disrespect to our earlier recordings – we feel the essence and atmosphere of those is still very much with us, but they were of a time and place that we’re no longer part of…”

Recorded during the summer and autumn of 2012 at Hampshire’s Earth Terminal and London’s Earthworks studios, Horrible Night is the sound of MOSS emerging from its cocoon a much more savage, intelligent and all the more terrifying beast. While no longer obsessed with extremity for its own sake – with weirdly infectious riffs, eccentric vocal melodies and no song over 12 minutes – MOSS remain heavier-than-thou, broadening their horror beyond any imposed ‘scene’ expectations. This mastery of the craft is evident from the opening moments of first track “Horrible Nights” – written back in 2010 it sets the course for the album, taking the twisting death-crawl of MOSS mini-epics such as “Tombs of the Blind Drugged” and administering a lethal dose of addictive melody, cooked up by the colossal riffs of Dominic Finbow and the Ozzy-via-seance vocalisations of Olly Pearson. Cuts such as “The Coral of Chaos” and “Dark Lady” expand further upon this potent formula, dragging the Black Sabbath blueprint to its most nightmarish conclusion and ushering MOSS further into their newest dark age.

With 6 tracks, MOSS proves more than ever why this English cult band is regarded exactly as such. While still no easy pill to swallow for the uninitiated, over its duration Horrible Night will demand complete mind control. Nonsense prefixes such as “stoner”, “sludge” or “drone” do not apply here; this is pure DOOM METAL, a celebration of horror, the arcane and the unknown.
Although traditionally a reluctant live act, in 2013 MOSS are set to embark on their first European headline tour, as well as a return trip to Holland’s Roadburn Festival, playing Jus Oborn’s Electric Acid Orgy with Electric Wizard, Dream Death, Psychic TV and the Pretty Things… It seems in their 13th year, MOSS have finally arrived. Unlucky for some…